Assessment of settlement models for engagement of communities in forest land under claim in Jessievale and Roburna communities in Mpumalanga, South Africa

Chirwa, Paxie W.; Mamba, Samkelo; Manda, Samuel O.M.; Babalola, Folaranmi D.

Assessment of settlement models for engagement of communities in forest land under claim in Jessievale and Roburna communities in Mpumalanga, South Africa

dc.contributor.author	Chirwa, Paxie W.	en
dc.contributor.author	Mamba, Samkelo	en
dc.contributor.author	Manda, Samuel O.M.	en
dc.contributor.author	Babalola, Folaranmi D.	en
dc.date.accessioned	2016-01-28T10:42:16Z	en
dc.date.available	2016-01-28T10:42:16Z	en
dc.date.epub	2015-02-28	en
dc.date.issued	2015-07	en
dc.description.abstract	An estimated 40% of privately owned plantations are subject to land claims, and 70% of State-owned plantations are under claim in South Africa. The study therefore identified the settlement models for future engagement of communities in forestry with forest land under claim. In total, 231 households were purposively sampled at Jessievale (n = 100) and Roburna (n = 131) where the primary data was collected through questionnaire administered to household heads. In general, 70% of the respondents indicated that they would opt for a settlement model that involves forestry. About 27% chose joint venture model, whereas 19% chose the lease agreement model. The joint venture model was the most preferred due to its ability to transfer the land to the claimants, in addition to opportunities such as transfer of management skills, job creation and empowerment of local communities. Age and possession of forestry skills significantly (p < 0.01) contribute to the choice of the different models. While communities were interested in getting their land back, they were not fully utilising the small portions of land currently available to them for agriculture. Hence, demand for land may be driven more by other land use options such as land for expanding new homes and grazing. In conclusion, communities were still interested in forestry as a land use option. However, future forestry models should clearly address land ownership and accommodate other land use options.	en
dc.description.sponsorship	The authors would like to thank the South African Forestry Company Limited (SAFCOL) for providing funding that enabled this research to be undertaken. The cooperation of colleagues from the Komati Land Forest Company is also greatly appreciated.	en
dc.identifier.citation	Assessment of settlement models for engagement of communities in forest land under claim in Jessievale and Roburna communities in Mpumalanga, South Africa 2015, 46:65 Land Use Policy	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.01.021	en
dc.identifier.issn	02648377	en
dc.identifier.journal	Land Use Policy	en
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11288/595093	en
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.relation.url	http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0264837715000241	en
dc.research.unit	Biostatistics Unit	en
dc.rights	Archived with thanks to Land Use Policy	en
dc.rights	© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Notice : this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Land Use Policy. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Land Use Policy, vol. 46, pp. 65-74, 2015. doi :10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.01.021
dc.subject	Benefits	en
dc.subject	Communities	en
dc.subject	Forest plantations	en
dc.subject	Forestry model	en
dc.subject	Land claim	en
dc.subject	South Africa	en
dc.title	Assessment of settlement models for engagement of communities in forest land under claim in Jessievale and Roburna communities in Mpumalanga, South Africa	en
dc.type	Article	en